Srimad Bhagavatam — Chaturtha Skandha, Shloka 37
Nārada Instructs Prācīnabarhiṣat: The Purañjana Narrative Begins
City of Nine Gates
इमां त्वमधितिष्ठस्व पुरीं नवमुखीं विभो । मयोपनीतान् गृह्णान: कामभोगान् शतं समा: ॥ ३७ ॥
imāṁ tvam adhitiṣṭhasva purīṁ nava-mukhīṁ vibho mayopanītān gṛhṇānaḥ kāma-bhogān śataṁ samāḥ
Mi querido señor, acabo de organizar esta ciudad de nueve puertas para ti para que puedas tener todo tipo de gratificación de los sentidos. Puedes vivir aquí durante cien años, y todo para tu gratificación sensorial será suministrado.
Dharmārtha-kāma-mokṣānāṁ dārāḥ samprāpti-hetavaḥ: the wife is the cause of all kinds of success in religion, economic development, sense gratification and ultimately salvation. When one accepts a wife, it is to be understood that he is being helped in his progressive march toward liberation. In the beginning of life a person is trained as a brahmacārī and is then allowed to marry a suitable girl and become a householder. If one is thoroughly trained in household life, he finds all facilities for human life — eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Everything is there if it is executed according to regulative principles.
FAQs
In the Purañjana allegory, the “city of nine gates” refers to the human body with nine openings, through which the living being engages the world and becomes entangled in sense experience.
It symbolizes a full human lifespan devoted to kāma-bhoga—showing how one may spend life absorbed in enjoyment and thus remain bound to material existence.
Recognize how the body and its “gates” pull the mind outward; redirect the same senses toward devotion—hearing, chanting, and serving—so life is not wasted only in consumption and pleasure-seeking.